Lesnar as a full-fledged ‘face vs. ‘Taker as a full-fledged heel is the big match for ‘Mania. Ronda Rousey will be involved, and maybe The Rock, Austin, etc.
All that will hopefully be entertaining. The monstrous capacity of Dallas’ AT&T Stadium (80,000 for football) provides a daunting number. But ‘Mania always sells out, or comes close. A good show is a bonus, and drives business in the aftermath. But it’s not necessary to draw a big house for ‘Mania.
WWE is a brand name that marks watch by rote. Period.
The “Divas revolution” has been set up to fail. The marks went nuts for Sasha Banks vs. Bayley at the NXT show, but the same crowd turned on the endless succession of multi-Diva garbage ladled up at SummerSlam and Raw.
It’s not the women. It’s the way they’re presented. The presentation in NXT is flawless. It’s terrible in WWE because WWE is concerned about who’s banging who, and about Mrs. John Cena being champ longer than Mrs. C.M. Punk was. Maybe the “revolution” is allowed to come good once that latter bit of pettiness is out of the way, but my hopes are not high.
Vince McMahon hates this idea in the first place, so he won’t take blame. HHH and Steph won’t take blame. That leaves the women. They get blamed. Well, the ones who aren’t sleeping with somebody important, anyway.
It’s sad, too, because Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley are really good, along with the dormant Natalya. But I knew this “revolution” was in real trouble when a medium talent like The Miz was allowed to get over verbally on Team PCB. The Miz couldn’t draw money if you dipped him in superglue and dragged him through a bank vault. Shut up and hold the mic.
Charlotte and Sasha need to break from the pack decisively. One needs to beat Nikki Bella decisively. Then Charlotte and Sasha need to feud for the title. If that sounds simple, that’s because simple is exactly what the “Divas’ revolution” needs to be. A few of the women are good. The rest aren’t.
Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
